One day, the duo had gone to the library and they managed to borrow a lot of books. Shradha was not a regular reader, but when she started suggesting books to Nishant, she started spending more time in the library and she started reading more books. She realized that science fiction interested her more and she started reading those books more.
When they were sitting outside the library, Nishant asked Shradha about her dreams in life. "What are your plans after graduation? I know it seems far away for now, but my mom always says that we should always plan ahead. So, tell me."
Shradha looked around and gave a smile. "I don't have any dreams and it's not like I am allowed to lead my life in my way. My dad is eagerly waiting for my graduation, so that he can get me married. "
Nishant was surprised by her words. "Why do you sound so pessimistic? You are talking as if you do not have a choice. Who are you? This is not the Shradha I know! My friend Shradha would never let others to tell her what to do. She is capable of leading her life in her way!"
Now it was Shradha's turn to be surprised. She had never expected Nishant to react in this way.
"What do you mean by your friend is capable of leading her life in her way? Your friend does not know what she wants from life. And it's not like she is talented; She has no skills and no hope for the future. She will just accept whatever comes her way."
We fail to understand the magnitude of impact that our childhood has on our overall personality. Our family and our parents have major contribution in the development of our personality. Unknowingly a patriarchal society can cause deep impression on a girl's mentality. When girls are told constantly from childhood that you are a burden and restrict us because of our gender, it makes us so weak that we fail to believe in ourselves throughout the life. Small things like cleaning the house or cooking because you are a girl or practice eating food after men in family finish eating can affect the young mind deeply. A girl who is told that she is not enough and will never be enough from the childhood, will never feel happy or confident about herself because whatever she does will never be equal to a son's achievements. This was what had happened with Shradha. Unknowingly she had accepted the fact that her capabilities were very limited and she was bound to the world that her parents created for her. She never thought of escaping this image and creating a life for herself.
Nishant was silent for a moment. Sheela had spoken many times about how she was treated by her parents. She used to say that she was not allowed to continue her education because she was a girl and this was the reason Sheela pushed Nishant to study more and fulfill her dreams. So Nishant indeed had understanding of the differential treatment women faced in the society. But he had assumed that along with the time, things had changed. But this was unexpected. He had never thought the girl who looked fierce all the time had such inferior feeling inside. It was as though she was leading a life without hope. Nishant had suspected that she was facing some issues at home and she might be feeling lonely. But he had never thought that she would be this broken. His heart ached for her and he badly wanted to console her and fill her heart with hopes. Because what is life without hopes, right?
"What are you saying? Just because someone says you are good for nothing, does that actually mean you are useless? No. it just means that you will have a chance to stand tall and prove that person wrong when you are successful. I know our society has a lot of deep rooted issues with the ways of treating girls but that does not mean you should not try to break free from those beliefs. If a strong, intelligent and capable girl like you give in to these craziness then how will our society progress? I am disappointed."
No one spoke for a while. As if an unknown force was giving him strength, Nishant had spoken with all seriousness. Never in his life before, Nishant had thought that he had this opinion about the way girls were treated in the society. It had always felt unfair but had never affected him this deeply. But after spending so much time with Shradha, he had noticed that she was a smart and hardworking girl. And today, sitting there and listening to her talk about life as if she had no choice made Nishant think more about this issue. "Maybe this is what they mean when people talk about being opinionated and sharing them openly. " It all started to make sense to Nishant.